Whats wrong with my tank? (death trap?)

[SilverDragon]

Ho hum... Im getting so sick of sick fish. My pearl molly is sitting under the ornament with her head straight up almost.. as if shes trying to find the darkest place. I dont understand, she was fine yesterday. Could weeks of my male guppy chasing her make her sick? she didnt seem to be stressed out by him.. she ignored him (he was trying to mate with her)

Its hard to see her under there, but theres no sign of an external injury or parasite... I just did an ammonia check, and its normal.. although there may have been a spike yesterday since i did a PWC and gravel siphon on Sunday.

Why do I keep having fish die of something I cant identify? They just waste away!.... The only luck I have is with bettas and corycats. :?

 

[WaterPond]

i had the same problem with my fancy guppies, i had a pair that i kept in a 2.5 gal tank and they just died after about two days. Sorry about your loss , it gets really frustrating sometimes. Belive me, i had a really aggressive fungus in my pond and i lost six fish. I think the reason that my fancy guppies died was the fact that i had a 5 gal. filter in a 2.5 gal. tank. i dont know if your fish have alot of places to hide from the current of your filtration system, you could try putting some type of barrier wall in where your fish could go behind to get rid of the current. I am still a beginner with brackish, so don't take this advice if nobody else agrees with it, it is just i thought of what may or may not be going on in your tank. I hope this helps.

 

[Zagz]

There are a lot of reasons why fish die. When you checked your ammonia did you check nitrite and nitrate and ph as well? Ammonia and nitrite should both be 0ppm. Have you seen your molly poop lately? Is it white and stringy? Have you added anything new to the tank or changed food recently? Stress and poor water can both bring on illnesses in fish. Why would you think you might have had an ammonia spike after your water change? Did you match temps and add dechlorinator?

How often do you do water changes on that tank? Sorry for all the questions but they will help us help you.

 

[SilverDragon]

When you checked your ammonia did you check nitrite and nitrate and ph as well? Ammonia and nitrite should both be 0ppm.

My test kit doesnt check for nitrates and nitrites... I havent found a kit yet that does.. Im still looking. The pH is always 7.4 or higher (my kit only goes to 7.4, another thing I need to buy --higher value kit)

How often do you do water changes on that tank?

I do a water change every week, and usually its 75%-85% change, and I add AquaSafe to treat the water. Havent changed the food, or added anything new.

The molly is still alive and after I stared at her for an hour or so, she finally came out of hiding and ate a couple flakes of food ( I put some in to see if she had any appetite) I also only feed the fish once a day - Tetramin tropical flakes.

Have you seen your molly poop lately? Is it white and stringy?

Havent seen her poop lately, but I havent ever seen her poop actually lol.. but I know she does because theres always green algae poop when I do a gravel siphon.

Im wondering, if while I was gone today, did something traumatic happen to her.. like she got caught up in the aerator wheel decoration, or something... and scared her into hiding for a while. Shes been swimming around ok now and her fins arent clamped anymore.

But either way, I wouldnt be surprised if she had the same illness that killed a guppy, black molly and two gouramis in the past. Would switching to a 10 gal tank help? Shes in the 5.5 gal. now.

Why would you think you might have had an ammonia spike after your water change? Did you match temps and add dechlorinator?

I posted a topic a couple weeks ago titled "ammonia levels" and someone replied saying that you can have an ammonia spike the day after a water change and gravel siphon... because junk gets all stirred up afterwards from the bottom.

 

[Zagz]

I've never experienced an ammonia spike after a water change. You can get and AP freshwater master kit for quite cheap that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, & ph. Bigalsonline sells it fairly cheaply.

 

[SilverDragon]

I checked Bigalsonline, and to me, 35 bucks isnt cheap... but anyway I will try to get a kit that tests more than just ammonia.

My molly seems to be fine now.. I think. Im assuming something scared her that day, and thats why she was hiding for so long.. maybe my cat swatted the tank or something.

Is it normal for fish to sleep near the bottom of the tank? Like, kindof hovering above the gravel?... The molly seems to do that every morning, but perks up at night.

 

[jsoong]

I checked Bigalsonline, and to me, 35 bucks isnt cheap... but anyway I will try to get a kit that tests more than just ammonia.

BigAl's Canadian prices are always higher than the US site's prices (after converting with the exchange rate at 60 cents ... now that we have a 90 cent dollar, it is even worse!)

Try J&L Aquatics in Vancouver .... they have a nitrite + nitrate kit for about $9, FW master kit $24 ..... but then shipping to Ont would eat up the saving.